When Kuli goes to the beach, he swims, surfs and showers, which is pretty much what every other beachgoer does. But there’s one key difference: Kuli is a one-eyed cat whose watery exploits are a social media sensation.

While most felines shy away from water, Kuli is comfortable in the ocean. Videos and photographs of the cat at the beach have gone viral on the Internet. He has his own Instagram account (@kulithesurfingcat) with more than 22,000 followers and an email account (kulithesurfingcat@gmail.com) that prompted fans to send photographs of their own one-eyed cats.

Kuli was adopted by Honolulu roommates Krista Littleton, 25, and Alex Gomez, 30, when he was 3 months old. They got him from CatFriends, a nonprofit group that helps find homes for abandoned and feral cats. The stray kitty weighed only about a pound, and his new owners weren’t sure he was going to survive. One of his eyes was infected and required surgery to remove it.

But Littleton and Gomez — special-education teachers who had joked about having a “special-needs cat” — knew that it was a serendipitous match. Because of their work, the women are accustomed to being patient and offering extra attention, so Kuli fit right in with the household.

“He looked happy from Day One,” Gomez said. “He’s so scrappy, a fighter.”

Kuli got comfortable around water early on. The cat had trouble holding down his food, so he needed daily baths to clean up the mess.

“He was taken from his mother and didn’t know how to clean himself,” Littleton said. “We were doing that for him.”

Kuli learned to swim with the use of a flotation vest and started catching waves at 6 months. He still uses the vest in rougher conditions, but most of the time he is fine without it.

“Crowds watch him surf and they like watching him shower,” Gomez said.

Typically, Kuli can be found catching waves in Waikiki surf breaks, perched on the end of one of his owner’s longboards.

“When we take him to the beach, he just thinks that’s what cats do,” said Littleton. “He loves to go in the car and look out the window. He’s turned into a cat-dog and has this really cool personality.”

Kuli turned 1 in October and continues to thrive.

“There’s plenty of more adventures in store because he has so much more to learn,” said Littleton. “He’s stoked for any adventure.”